Not losing weight

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

I stalled for a couple of months. But I was honestly drinking literally half of my calories, alcohol. (I have now stopped) I weigh everything! Just keep at it, sometimes it just takes time. Don't give up!

1500-1700 is a wide range. Do you know your actual daily average?

MichelleNicole93 wrote: »

I started back up with personal training, calorie counting, and using Fitbit on August 22nd
I'm 5ft2 and weighed in at 173
Currently a month later I'm still the same weight. I don't understand how this is. I've followed my diet eating 1500 or 1700 Cals on days I'm more active. My body fat is measured too and it has not budged much. Should I go lower in calories? My Fitbit says I burn 2500 a day or sometimes even 3000. I walk everyday 10k steps at least including days I'm going to the gym for over an hour.
Anyone have similar issues? Trying to get to 130!

3000 calorie burn sounds like a lot of calories for a short person. I'm 5'7" and 164 lbs and I burn 2100 cals walking 10k steps. My BMR is 1600 without exercise, and 10k steps gives me 500 calories a day. I'm willing to bet it's overestimating.

Deleted....

Colorscheme wrote: »

MichelleNicole93 wrote: »

I started back up with personal training, calorie counting, and using Fitbit on August 22nd
I'm 5ft2 and weighed in at 173
Currently a month later I'm still the same weight. I don't understand how this is. I've followed my diet eating 1500 or 1700 Cals on days I'm more active. My body fat is measured too and it has not budged much. Should I go lower in calories? My Fitbit says I burn 2500 a day or sometimes even 3000. I walk everyday 10k steps at least including days I'm going to the gym for over an hour.
Anyone have similar issues? Trying to get to 130!

3000 calorie burn sounds like a lot of calories for a short person. I'm 5'7" and 164 lbs and I burn 2100 cals walking 10k steps. My BMR is 1600 without exercise, and 10k steps gives me 500 calories a day. I'm willing to bet it's overestimating.

I have to agree. I'm 5'3" and 135 pounds. I've taken over 14,000 steps today and my Fitbit shows 1700 calories as my burn for the day. 5 miles of those steps were running, not walking, too.

MichelleNicole93 wrote: »

caramm1 wrote: »

Your fitbit sounds well out! I walk minimum of 20000 a day and only burn off 500 calories. It may need calibrating

Yours seems to be out of calibration. 20,000 should burn well over 500 cals. 10 miles a day and only burning 500 sounds a little off

It's probably just a 500 adjustment over a fairly active setting?

Obvious question first. How are you measuring your calories in? If you're eyeballing it, rethink that.

Someone just posted a great thread about why you may not being losing weight. I would encourage you to look at it.